Population:
total: 45,095,459 (July 1995 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 40% (female 8,842,764; male 9,091,722)
15-64 years: 56% (female 12,825,617; male 12,508,039)
65 years and over: 4% (female 1,047,285; male 780,032) (July 1995 est.)
Population growth rate:
total: 2.61% (1995 est.)
Birth rate: 33.39 births/1,000 population (1995 est.)
Death rate: 7.42 deaths/1,000 population (1995 est.)
Net migration rate: 0.17 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1995 est.)
Infant mortality rate: 45.8 deaths/1,000 live births (1995 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 65.42 years
male: 62.68 years
female: 68.25 years (1995 est.)
Total fertility rate: 4.35 children born/woman (1995 est.)
Nationality:
noun: South African(s)
adjective: South African
Ethnic divisions: black 75.2%, white 13.6%, Colored 8.6%, Indian 2.6%
Religions: Christian (most whites and Coloreds and about 60% of blacks), Hindu (60% of Indians), Muslim 2%
Languages: eleven official languages, including Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Pedi, Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu
Literacy: age 15 and over can read and write (1980)
total population: 76%
male: 78%
female: 75%
Labor force: 13.4 million economically active (1990)
by occupation: services 35%, agriculture 30%, industry 20%, mining 9%, other 6%